Working with copper pipe

This past weekend I built an arbor out of 1/2 inch copper pipe. I found a product called Copper Bond made by the makers of Super Glue that works wonders. However it is a little messy and sets quickly so you have to work fast. I have also spotted a different copper glue product that may work better for us slower workers at the local Tractor Supply. I would like to try my hand at different designs but seem constrained by the limited type of connectors, reducers, elbows, and t's. Anybody got any good ideas for different connectors?

(post #11540, reply #3 of 12)

I searched through one or two supply houses on the web but did not see a four legged connector. That would be great. I'll search again and maybe go by the local plumbing supply house and see what they have. Mostly I just looked in the big box stores. Since I really do not need water tight joints I used the glue rather than solder. However if I do much more in the long run solder would probably more cost effective the glue was $7 a bottle. On the other hand glued fingers are better than burnt ones. I was looking for a connector that resembled a top corner tent connector - two legs at right angles and a third going straight down. Thanks for the info.

I have done a lot with copper (post #11540, reply #10 of 12)

I have done a lot with copper pipe to build shrub cages and trellises. I have been limited by the standard connections as you have but I have found that I can use flexible copper tubing to make the design more interesting. It does have limitations on how much you can bend it before it creases, but it will really enhance your ability to be creative. And it does need the rigid copper pipe in the design for stability. I have made a nine foot tall tree in a garden with rigid pipe for the trunk and flexible tubing for the branches. (That solved my problem for wanting a tree where I couldn't put one!) I have also used copper flashing to cut out leaf shapes and epoxied them to a copper shrub cage with small flexible tubing wrapped around it to look like a vine. And I have made tables for the patio with copper legs and bluestone tops. The sky is the limit!

I have found that soldering the connections works the best for the long term. Some of the metal epoxies that I have used have let go after a year or two. Soldering is really quite easy to do once you get the hang of it but you have to have an indoor space to do it in.

The good thing about copper (post #11540, reply #12 of 12)

The good thing about copper pipe ( the stuff used in Central Heating Systems in the U.K. is - that it IS - malleable.

i.e. one can gently bend it - either a bit just carefully by hand - or more-tha-a-bit by utilising some kinda blow-torch. (Please take care by using good heat-prufe gloves ( the stuff will get HOT ) & goggles, too. The one trouble with using a torch is that it can discolor the pipe in that local area. Wire-wool could get rid of PART of that problem - but not completely.

If you wish to make 'numerous' all-identical-radius bends - you can get those flexible "pipe-benders" - which fit inside the pipe & support the wall of the pipe without it kinking/buckling.